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Thomas Paine
'Introduction' Thomas Paine, the greatest intellectual of the era, began of humble roots. Paine will rise from poverty to become the most influential political philosopher of the Revolutionary Era. ' Early Life' ''' A young Thomas Paine was born on January 29th, 1737 in Thetford, England. His father was a poor corset maker and tried to put him through grammar school, but eventually he could not af ford it and was forced to apprentice the young Paine. Thomas Paine could not accept this as his occupation though. Paine had had a taste of education and he wasn’t willing to give up on it. He held many jobs in the next coup le years including school teacher, but mainly he was a tax collector (exciseman). He was married once in and she died in childbirth in 1760. Hemarried again in 1771 and he divorced her within three years. This is when he decided he would leave England go to the America’s to start a new life. (Kreis) '''American Life He met Benjamin Franklin near the end of his time in England and Franklin helped Paine to relocate to the American Colonies. On November 30th, 1774 Paine relocated to Pennsylvania. He picked up a job at the Pennsylvania Newspaper. During this time where he was getting settled in America he published many different papers and articles getting himself known in the writing world of America. During this time he is said to have expressed his views on Slavery. Paine is said to have really hated slavery in all forms. (Foner) 'Philosophical Career' Paine’s rise to fame can be attributed to Common Sense. This 50 page pamphlet was written to express the opinion that after Lexington and Concord, the American end goal should be independence not just getting the unfair taxation levied against them repealed. He also expresses his detestment of the English government. This can be seen in the following quote from Common Sense: “For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have the right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever, and tho' himself might deserve some decent degree of honours of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them.” (CS, Paine) Common Sense will produce a large amount of national pride and hate for England. Just as in the quote above a lot of Common Sense is just bashing on England. This pamphlet would go on to sell an extremely large amount of copies and fuel the drive for independence. (Hogeland) Another one of his great contribution to the American cause came in the form of 16 “Crisis” papers he wrote to pump up the American soldiers and get them angry at England. Washington had the first American Crisis paper written read to the army at Valley Forge which basically saved the army from falling apart, because the army itself was on the verge of disintegration due to poor living conditions.(Foner) Here is an excerpt for consideration (remember this is supposed to be read vehemently and with much emotion) “THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.” (Crisis, Paine) Although Paine himself was not very religious he knew that he needed to give the men the idea that they were being backed by God so that they believed they were fighting a righteous war. Because of this idea of a righteous war they will continue to stay with the army through the Winter and stay to fight in the Spring. Postwar Thomas Paine: After the war Thomas Paine was something of a lost puppy. He didn’t really know what to do with his life. He was also pretty dirt poor. Congress gave him 3,000 dollars. Pennsylvania gave Paine 500 pounds (as in the currency) in cash and New York gave him a confiscated farm. This is what the man who held the army together at Valley Forge with nothing but his written words, had been reduced to. He essentially became a beggar. In 1787, Paine couldn’t get used to not being in the thick of things. Paine left for Europe. In Europe he tried to become an inventor and create a smokeless candle and an iron bridge. He wandered through mainly England and France trying to find a financial backer for his iron bridge. Eventually he gave up on his iron bridge and became a writer again. He got entangled in the French Revolution and was urged to write his arguably most influential work of all. This was called Rights of Man. On a basic level this book explains that when a government does not provide for its people, that the people have a right to have a revolution and try to change the current political regime. However Rights of Man also defines the perfect government and when a government can declare its superiority over other forms of government: “When it shall be said in any country in the world my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want; the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am a friend of its happiness: When these things can be said, there may that country boast its Constitution and its Government” Paine spent the next ten years of his life in France. What Paine truly wanted was for his home country England to have a political revolution and adopt a republican form of government. However this never happened as Paine wanted it to. Because of Paine’s influence upon the French Revolution he was asked to join the french National Convention. The problem with this was that he could not speak French so naturally people did not listen to his translator speak very much. Probably they tuned him out after seeing that he was not naturally born French. Eventually his political views got him in trouble because he opposed the imprisonment of Loui XVI. This led to his imprisonment for a while. James Monroe interceded on Paine’s behalf and bailed him out of the jail. While in jail he wrote The Age of Reason this was basically a deist text that almost scorned religion and tried to preach deism to the masses. This was not met with very much support, because generally speaking people really hate other people who do not like their religion (Leemhuis). Here is evidence of The Age of Reason’s scorn of religion: “Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid or produces only atheists or fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism, and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests, but so far as respects the good of man in general it leads to nothing here or hereafter.” (AoR, Paine) The final years of Thomas Paine’s life are a sad story. Here, a man that driven men forward to fight for their beliefs, a man whose political ideals were held to in one of the greatest countries in the world (America), here is a man that died alone. He died an outcast of his peers, but despite of this he still had the greatest impact of any other philospher on the modern revolutionary era. 'Resources' *Kreis, Steven. "Thomas Paine, 1737-1809." Thomas Paine, 1737-1809. History Guide, 30 May 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. *Leemhuis, Benny "A Biography of Thomas Paine." American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and beyond. University of Groningen, 2012. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. *Aldridge, Alfred Owen. "Paine, Thomas (1737–1809)." Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Donald M. Borchert. 2nd ed. Vol. 7. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. 73-74. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. *Resch, John P. "Paine, Thomas." Americans at War. Ed. John P. Resch. Vol. 1: 1500-1815. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 135-136. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. *Hogeland, William. "Thomas Paine's Revolutionary Reckoning." American History June 2011: 64-69. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. *Paine, Thomas. Common Sense. 1st ed. Atlanta: The Electronic Books Foundation, 2012. eBook. *Paine, Thomas. Rights of Man. Ann Arbor: Watts &, 1906. Print. * Foner, Philip S. "Thomas Paine." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. * Paine, Thomas. "The Crisis." December 23, 1776. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.